16" radius

$136.15

20" radius

$136.15

Aluminum Radius-sanding Beam

Extended length for fast, precise shaping. Create a constant radius on an unfretted fingerboard, or level installed frets with this unique tool for the professional guitar shop.

The 18" long extruded aluminum block is comfortable to hold, and its stiffness and precisely machined radius assure accuracy that's not possible with a wooden block of the same length. We designed this tool for a lifetime of use in the busy shop.

A great clamping caul for glue-in fret jobs!"I use aluminum fretboard sanding blocks to hold and clamp the frets in place while the glue dries...A scrap of Neoprene on the bottom of the caul protects the frets from the texture of the machined surface, and serves as a cushion that conforms to the radius a little better, conforming to any slight variations in the fretboard."Excerpt from Erick Coleman's bookFret Work Step-By-Step

Cut and stick!3M Stikit Gold Paper Self-adhesive Abrasives are the right width for our leveling and radius sanding tools. Attach 80 through 220-grits for radiusing and leveling the fingerboard, and 220 through 400-grits for leveling the frets.

Works on stainless frets, too!All of our tools are suitable for use on stainless-steel fretwire, with the exception of our Fret Tang Nippers and Fret Cutters. Modern stainless-steel fretwire is known to be harder than the traditional nickel-silver blends, but our own shop experience indicates the wire does not cause premature wear of files or sandpapers.

Precise tool

I have been kicking around the idea of buying one of these for nearly 3 years now and just couldn't wrap my head around the price. But finally I tried it and bought one. The foot of this tool is cut spot on precise, with a perfect and consistent radius, the edges are straight and it does feel comfortable to hold. It's not as heavy as I thought it'd be based on other reviews but is definitely solidly built. As the saying goes, buy nice or buy twice... This is the nicest tool available on the US market today for guitar fretboard shaping. It will very likely last for decades if properly handled and not dropped and still be as straight as the day I received it. Only reason I gave it 4 stars is because there is an improvement I think could have been made. The bottom surface of the tool has fine grooves in it left over from the milling process, I could see that being problematic with buildup of gunk from sandpaper adhesive which would need to be cleaned regularly between changing sandpaper with naphtha or some other solvent. If the bottom were precision ground and polished as well it would be solid 5 star. Thats only a minor concern, this is still a great tool and will have its own place on the wall to hang in my shop. I am very happy with the purchase and will likely order another radius in the future.